Hebrew Bible)) a part of a section comprising Joshua 13:1–21:45 about the Israelites allotting the land of Canaan.^[1]

Text

This chapter was originally written in the Hebrew language. It is divided into 10 verses.

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in Hebrew are of the Masoretic Text tradition, which includes the Codex Cairensis (895), Aleppo Codex (10th century), and Codex Leningradensis (1008).^[2]

Extant ancient manuscripts of a translation into Koine Greek known as the Septuagint (originally was made in the last few centuries BCE) include Codex Vaticanus (B; ${\mathfrak {G))$ ^B; 4th century) and Codex Alexandrinus (A; ${\mathfrak {G))$ ^A; 5th century).^[3]^[a]

Analysis

The narrative of Israelites allotting the land of Canaan comprising verses 13:1 to 21:45 of the Book of Joshua and has the following outline:^[5]

A. Preparations for Distributing the Land (13:1–14:15)

B. The Allotment for Judah (15:1–63)

C. The Allotment for Joseph (16:1–17:18)

1. Joseph's Allotment (16:1–4)

2. Ephraim's Inheritance (16:5–10)

3. Manasseh's Inheritance (17:1–13)

4. Additional Land for Joseph (17:14–18)

D. Land Distribution at Shiloh (18:1–19:51)

E. Levitical Distribution and Conclusion (20:1–21:45)

There are three key elements in the report of the allotments for the nine and a haf tribes in the land of Canaan as follows:^[6]

Tribe	Boundary List	City List	Indigenous Population Comment
Judah	X	X	X
Ephraim	X		X
Manasseh	X		X
Benjamin	X	X
Simeon		X
Zebulun	X
Issachar	X
Asher	X
Naphtali	X	X
Dan		X	X

Joseph's Allotment (16:1–4)

The tribe of Joseph is next to be allotted after Judah (cf. the space devoted to each tribe in Jacob's blessing, Genesis 49:8–12, 22–26) and with subdivision into Ephraim and Manasseh (Joshua 14:4), overall it covers a huge area of land in Canaan between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea from just north of the Dead Sea to Mount Carmel in the north-west, in addition to the Transjordan lands allotted the other half of Manasseh.^[7] The southern boundary (verses 1–3) borders Benjamin to the south (16:2–3 parallel 18:12–13), running from Jericho (converging with both Judah and Benjamin there) up towards Bethel, along the route from Jericho to Ai, going past the important military outpost of Gezer, with a view of the entry to the hill country from the plain.^[7]

Verse 2

Then going from Bethel to Luz, it passes along to Ataroth, the territory of the Archites.^[8]

"Bethel": here is separated from Luz, whereas both are regarded as one in other verses (Joshua 18:13; Judges 1:23).^[7]
"Archites": the residence or tribe of Hushai, David's advisor (cf. 2 Samuel 15:32; 2 Samuel 16:16; 1 Chronicles 27:33).

Allotment for Ephraim (16:5–10)

The boundary of Ephraim is defined in detail on its northern and eastern borders with Manasseh (6b–7), and verse 9 seems to indicate a complex definition of the borders between them.^[7]

Verse 10

However, they did not drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer, so the Canaanites have lived in the midst of Ephraim to this day but have been made to do forced labor.^[9]

"Gezer": was later given to Israel by Pharaoh during the time of Solomon (1 Kings 9:16).^[7]

Notes

^ The whole book of Joshua is missing from the extant Codex Sinaiticus.^[4]

References

^ McConville 2007, p. 158.
^ Würthwein 1995, pp. 35–37.
^ Würthwein 1995, pp. 73–74.
^ This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Codex Sinaiticus". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
^ Firth 2021, pp. 29–30.
^ Firth 2021, p. 265.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e McConville 2007, p. 170.
^ Joshua 16:2 ESV
^ Joshua 16:10 ESV

Sources

Beal, Lissa M. Wray (2019). Longman, Tremper, III; McKnight, Scot (eds.). Joshua. The Story of God Bible Commentary. Zondervan Academic. ISBN 978-0310490838.((cite book)): CS1 maint: multiple names: editors list (link)
Coogan, Michael David (2007). Coogan, Michael David; Brettler, Marc Zvi; Newsom, Carol Ann; Perkins, Pheme (eds.). The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books: New Revised Standard Version, Issue 48 (Augmented 3rd ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195288810.
Firth, David G. (2021). Joshua: Evangelical Biblical Theology Commentary. Evangelical Biblical Theology Commentary (EBTC) (illustrated ed.). Lexham Press. ISBN 9781683594406.
Fitzmyer, Joseph A. (2008). A Guide to the Dead Sea Scrolls and Related Literature. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. ISBN 9780802862419.
Halley, Henry H. (1965). Halley's Bible Handbook: an abbreviated Bible commentary (24th (revised) ed.). Zondervan Publishing House. ISBN 0-310-25720-4.
Harstad, Adolph L. (2004). Joshua. Concordia Publishing House. ISBN 978-0570063193.
Hayes, Christine (2015). Introduction to the Bible. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0300188271.
Hubbard, Robert L (2009). Joshua. The NIV Application Commentary. Zondervan. ISBN 978-0310209348.
McConville, Gordon (2007). "9. Joshua". In Barton, John; Muddiman, John (eds.). The Oxford Bible Commentary (first (paperback) ed.). Oxford University Press. pp. 158–176. ISBN 978-0199277186. Retrieved February 6, 2019.
Rösel, Hartmut N. (2011). Joshua. Historical commentary on the Old Testament. Vol. 6 (illustrated ed.). Peeters. ISBN 978-9042925922.
Ulrich, Eugene, ed. (2010). The Biblical Qumran Scrolls: Transcriptions and Textual Variants. Brill.
Webb, Barry G. (2012). The Book of Judges. New International Commentary on the Old Testament. Eerdmans Publishing Company. ISBN 9780802826282.
Würthwein, Ernst (1995). The Text of the Old Testament. Translated by Rhodes, Erroll F. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans. ISBN 0-8028-0788-7. Retrieved January 26, 2019.

External links

Jewish translations:
- Yehoshua - Joshua - Chapter 16 (Judaica Press). Hebrew text and English translation [with Rashi's commentary] at Chabad.org
Christian translations:
- Online Bible at GospelHall.org (ESV, KJV, Darby, American Standard Version, Bible in Basic English)
- Joshua chapter 16. Bible Gateway